ALOHA!

The woman above with me is a coworker of Jim's named Elise. She is funny and fantastic and reminds me a great deal of my Aunt Carolyn. She sat next to me at the Luau last night and made me laugh and laugh. All of Jim's coworkers and their spouses are great people and I am glad I got to meet them. On to the Luau...
The Luau was hosted at the Hale Koa hotel, which is a military hotel. There were lots of veterans, current military folk and normal people, like us. The festivities were hosted by none other than Glen Mederos (sp?). He had a big hit in 1987 that I knew when he was singing it but in only twelve hours have forgotten. Must be all the Blue Hawaiis we drank. A fantastic beverage, that Jim and I drank with glee.
The food was good. Correction, the meat was good. The poi was BAD. Poi is like starchy goo that you are supposed to eat with your two fingers. I tried it. I am done with it. Blech.
But the pork was amazing, cooked in the ground, the whole deal. Also, fried bananas and some beef. I have no idea. I was knee deep in Blue Hawaiis by that point and between being half drunk and amazed by the half-naked dancers - who knows what we ate?
The only interesting part about these shows in Hawaii is that they know their crowd well. Lots of applause for the military, applause for birthdays and newlyweds, and applause upon applause for couples married over 50 years. Apparently, in Hawaii, until 50 years your time together means nada.
Glen led us in a rousing, standing and candle-holding-in-the-air version of "I Am Proud to Be an American". You can imagine how Jim and I fit into this scenario. Honestly, it is not that we don't recognize the sincerity of the moment, we just don't enjoy forced sentimental patriotism. I support the troops. I just don't need to sing about it.
That being said, to follow up Jim's Pearl Harbor post, I thought Pearl Harbor was one of the most sincere and lovely memorial I have ever seen. It is up there with the Vietnam Wall in D.C. The visitors were quiet and respectful and the building itself is simple and appropriate. I really enjoyed the time we spent there.
Today we head to K'aui. I have no idea how that is spelled. Hawaiian words baffle me. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to pronounce the street names or the words all around us. I need lessons.
Thanks for checking in with us. I promise we will bring you back something great.